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Government shies from tinkering with family

Stephen OBrien, Political Correspondent

November 12 2006, 12:00am, The Sunday Times

Senior legal sources said ministers would steer clear of confrontation with the religious right in the referendum campaign — likely to be held in the spring — by leaving “the inalienable and imprescriptable” rights of the family in Article 41 of the constitution untouched.

But significant changes to three other articles may emerge from a review and consultation designed to find agreement on a referendum wording before Christmas.

The Mother and Child Campaign last week said the government’s referendum plan was “tantamount to saying that parents can’t be trusted”. It rejected as “wide open to abuse” a wording proposed by Barnardo’s, a children’s lobby group, to “vindicate the welfare of children” and allow state intervention where parents fail to protect their welfare.